December retail used-vehicle sales rose 12% year-over-year to 1.4 million units.
Pixabay/andreas
Used-vehicle sales ended last year with a bang compared to a year earlier, though they were flat from November.
Cox Automotive data show a 12% year-over-year bump to 1.4 million units, while the lack of month-over-month movement increased days’ supply by one day to 48.
“December usually sees a drop in used-vehicle retail sales, but this year they showed a stronger seasonal trend and were significantly higher than last year,” said Cox Senior Analyst of Economic and Industry Insights Scott Vanner in a press release.
“December marked the second month of double-digit year-over-year sales growth, capping off a positive year for used-vehicle sales.”
Certified preowned models, meanwhile, increased 4% over November to nearly 217,000 units but were down year-over-year by 5%, said Cox, which pointed to one fewer selling day and the scarcity of off-lease units and trade-ins.
Cox predicts that used sales will increase a modest 1% this year to 20 million units due to still-constrained inventory lingering from low pandemic-era production, along with limited off-lease units.
